Archive for April, 2009

Apr 28 2009

What Is God Like?

Posted by: richman in harold sala, tags:

by Dr. Harold Sala

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” -John 1:1 

A  child’s approach to God must still have something of heaven intertwined in it—something we tend to lose as we grow older, more skeptical, and more secular. It is no wonder that Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Mark 10:15).

My son Steven was about five years of age when I had to fly to San Francisco. As I was negotiating rush hour traffic, trying to figure out where I was going and hoping that I wouldn’t miss a critical turn, I wasn’t carrying on much of a conversation with the little fellow who sat next to me. Suddenly, without any prologue, Steve blurted out, “Daddy, what is God like?”

Surprised? Totally. Yes, in our home we talked about God and had daily devotions. Yes, he was in Sunday school and church, and obviously had been thinking about the issue. A somewhat sober dialogue about what God is like wasn’t what I would have expected under those circumstances–something that made me realize kids often think about what adults ignore. 

In the 60s, the “God is dead” movement was front-page news. In the 90s, God’s existence was ignored. Today it is denied. Politicians, wanting to impress their constituents, often throw in a “God bless our country” at the end of a heightened emotional appeal; but largely, God remains somewhat of a stranger.

Talking about God isn’t exactly everyday conversation with most folks. Yet—and this is something which seems to run counter to a true understanding of God—our culture today trivializes God. It’s the profanity, the cheapness of life, and the vulgarity of our conversation that must surely bring heartache to the Father.  Exactly how would you answer that question, “What is God like?” Your answer, though you may not have thought about it, embraces what theologians call the attributes of God.

What is God like? As I fumbled for words, trying to satisfy the curiosity of a little boy, I explained that God, unlike us, was never born. He has always existed and always will exist. I explained that God loves us very much, so much that He sent His son to give us eternal life; that God is faithful and just. He is always the same and never changes or grows old. He can always be counted on, and because we are His children through faith in Jesus Christ, we can pray to Him and He answers our prayers as He sees best.

For some time I have been thinking about the importance of our generation’s coming to an understanding of who God is. A knowledge of God is something that seems to have been obscured by the mentality that God is out there, and that He loves us and that we can do about anything and He will forgive us and take us home to heaven when we die. “Well, isn’t that true?” you ask. Honestly, I would have to say, “Well, yes, and no.”

An understanding of God, the God of the Bible—not the one of the philosophers, or the god that cult groups talk about, or the pagan gods who have to be appeased—an understanding of who God really is will do more to influence your lifestyle and behavior than anything in the world. It does more to shape your morality and integrity, including your value system, than anything else.

It is when you do not really know God that you assume that we can make our own rules and assume that this ever-loving, beneficent, gray-bearded Father of the Universe will say, “That’s OK. You’re just human.”   Make getting to know God a priority in your life.

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Apr 26 2009

The Goodness of the LORD

Posted by: richman in harold sala, tags:

By Dr. Harold Sala

“How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you.” Psalm 31:19

Shortly before his life was tragically cut short by an automobile accident, Paul Little wrote an article in which he said that the bottom line of our theology is whether or not God is really a good God.

When I read Paul’s article, I asked myself, “Is this really true?” Yes, I respected the man who had been used by God in founding Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, but does all theology rest on such a simple premise? Today I am convinced that my skepticism was unfounded. Are you? Are you absolutely convinced beyond any doubt that God is a good God?

“Ah,” you may be saying, “Let me tell you about what happened to me.” Yes, I’ve heard more than a few scary accounts of difficulty and trouble, some of which we bring on ourselves, and some which are the result of living in a sinful, broken world. But to attribute everything bad that happens to God lets both the devil and us off much too easy.

The goodness of God, says the Bible, is something that you can experience, individually and personally. “Taste and see that the LORD is good” is the invitation of the Psalmist David (Psalm 34:8). Sharing his personal experience, David, writing the beautiful 23rd Psalm, again says, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”

On August 23rd, 1961, about 4 o’clock in the morning, I came to grips personally with this issue. My wife had been in labor with our first child for over 20 hours. Finally the doctor decided that if the baby was to survive, he had to take the struggling infant, and without delay. The unborn baby’s heartbeat had suddenly jumped to over 200 beats a minute. The umbilical cord had wrapped itself around the neck of the little infant, who was fighting for life. As they rolled the gurney into the operating room and the doors closed, never have I been more alone than at that moment.

As I stood there in the hospital corridor, my heart filled with fear, I remembered the little New Testament and Psalms I had tucked into my shirt pocket. A single light bulb hung from a fixture, giving me just enough light to see the small words. Turning to Psalm 27, I read, “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.”

Then said David, “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” Earnestly my heart cried out, “God , just as you were good to David, please show me the same goodness and spare my wife and baby.” Yes, God saw us through that crisis, and I knew I had tasted of the goodness of the Lord.

Interestingly enough, it is only in relationship to God’s goodness that the Bible challenges you to find out for yourself. It doesn’t say, “O taste and see that the God is all powerful,” or “O taste and see that God is all supreme and powerful.” But it does say you can personally experience the goodness of a loving God.

I am convinced that only when you arrive on Heaven’s shore and look back will you be able to see the many, many ways that a good God protected or guided you when you did not even know that His hand was protecting or directing.

Question: Have you learned that God is good? So often we rush through life, oblivious of what God has done for us, complaining that our lot is not better than it is, or blaming God for our failures and mistakes.

It’s high time to begin to give thanks for God’s goodness and recognize that your blessings are not the result of good luck, or your brilliant efforts, but have come from the hand of the Almighty. Paul Little was right. The bottom line of all theology is the goodness of the God.

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Apr 21 2009

Son of Famous Terrorist Group Became a Christian

Posted by: richman in Others, tags:

Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of Hamas leader, becomes a  Christian

Hamas’ Christian convert: “I’ve left a society that sanctifies terror. A verse like ‘Love thine enemy’ had a great influence on me. They can kill my body, but they can’t kill my soul. “

  

Posted: Tuesday, August 5, 2008

 

 

The son of a top Hamas leader has converted to Christianity and prays some day his family will also accept Jesus Christ as their saviour, according to an Israeli newspaper.

 

 

Masab Yousef, son of West Bank Hamas  leader Sheik Hassan Yousef, revealed for the first time in an exclusive  interview with Haaretz newspaper that he has left Islam and is now a Christian.  

Prior to the interview’s publication last Thursday, Yousef’s family did not know of his faith conversion even though he is in regular contact with them.  

 

 

“This interview will open many people’s eyes, it will shake Islam from the roots, and I’m not exaggerating,” said Yousef, who now resides in the United States. “What other case do you know where a son of a Hamas leader, who was raised on the tenets of extremist Islam, comes out against it?”

 

 

Yousef, who is now 30-years-old, was first exposed to Christianity eight years ago while in Jerusalem, where out of curiosity he accepted an invitation to hear about Christianity. Afterwards, he became “enthusiastic” about what he heard and would secretly read the Bible every day.

 

 

“A verse like ‘Love thine enemy’ had a great influence on me,” Yousef recalled. “At this stage I was still a Muslim and I thought that I would remain one. But every day I saw the terrible things done in the name of religion by those who considered themselves ‘great believers’.

 

 

“I studied Islam more thoroughly and found no answers there. I re-examined the Koran and the principals of the faith and found how it is mistaken and misleading.”

 

 

But with Christianity, Yousef said he could understand God as revealed through Jesus Christ. He said he could talk about God and Jesus for days, but Muslims are not able to say anything about God.

 

 

“I consider Islam a big lie,” said Yousef. “The people who supposedly represent the religion admired Mohammed more than God, killed innocent people in the name of Islam, beat their wives and don’t have any idea what God is.

 

 

“I have no doubt that they’ll go to hell. I have a message for them: There is only one way to paradise - the way of Jesus who sacrificed himself on the cross for all of us.”

 

 

Four years ago, Yousef decided to convert to Christianity but did not let his family know. He still helped his father with his political activities, and his father only knew his son had Christian friends.

 

 

“I felt responsible. It was better for me to be there rather than a gang of fools who would poison his mind,” Yousef explained. “I tried to understand those people, their thoughts, in order to change them from inside by means of a strong person like my father, who admitted to me in the past that he does not support suicide attacks.”

 

 

Yousef described his father as a moderate Hamas leader.

 

 

But even before his encounter with Christianity, Yousef had already become disenchanted with Hamas and Islam after being imprisoned at the age of 18 years  old for heading a youth Islamic movement at his high school.

 

 

He described the Hamas leaders he met in prison as people with “no morals” and “no integrity”, although they hide their corruption better than Fatah party members.  
“Nobody knows them and how they operate as well as I do,” Yousef said,  recalling how the family of Hamas members killed by Israel were forced to beg  for financial assistance while the leadership “abandoned” them and “wasted” tens  of thousands of dollars a month only on security for themselves.

 

 

“Then (in prison) I understood that not everyone in Hamas is like my father. He’s a nice, friendly man. But I discovered how evil his colleagues are,” Yousef said. “After my release I lost the faith I had in those who ostensibly represented Islam.”  

 

 

Hamas is considered a terrorist group by the United States, Israel, and many Western countries. The group has publicly vowed to destroy Israel.  

 

 

Now Yousef, the eldest son of Sheikh Yousef, says he “admires” Israel.  

 

 

“You Jews should be aware: You will never, but never have peace with Hamas,” Yousef stated. “Islam, as the ideology that guides them, will not allow them to achieve a peace agreement with the Jews.

 

They believe that tradition says that the Prophet Mohammed fought against the Jews and that therefore they must continue to fight them to the death.”  He denounced the “entire” Palestinian society as one that “sanctifies death and the suicide terrorist.  

“Palestinian culture a suicide terrorist becomes a hero, a martyr. Sheiks tell their students about the ‘heroism of the shaheeds (martyr)’.”

 

 

Yousef highlighted that Hamas was the first to use suicide bombers as weapons against civilians.

 

 

“They (Hamas) are blind and ignorant. It’s true, there are good  and bad people everywhere, but Hamas supporters don’t understand that they are  led by a wicked and cruel group that brainwashes the children and gets them to  believe that if they carry out a suicide attack they’ll get to paradise,” he  said.

 

 

The Muslim-turned-Christian says he does not think Islam will survive for more than 25 years because the truth about Islam will be exposed given the mass communication available in the modern age.

 

 

For his part, Yousef says he hopes to “open the eyes” of Muslims and “reveal the truth” to them about Islam and Christianity with the goal to “take them out of the darkness and the prison of Islam”.

 

 

“In that way they’ll have an opportunity to correct their mistakes, to become better people and to bring a chance for peace in the Middle East,” he said.

 

 

Yousef, who has taken the biblical name of Joseph, said he dreams of one day becoming a writer to tell his personal story and about the Middle East conflicts.

 

 

“But at the moment, at least, my ambitions are only to find work, a place to live,” admits Yousef, who left behind properties in Ramallah to find true freedom. “I have no money, I have no apartment.

 

 

“I was about to become one of those homeless people [in the United States],” he confessed, “but people from the church are helping me. I’m dependent on them.” He also dreams that some day he can return to his homeland and his family will accept Jesus Christ.

 

 

“I know that I’m endangering my life and am even liable to lose my father, but I hope that he’ll understand this and that God will give him and my family patience and willingness to open their eyes to Jesus and to Christianity,” Yousef said. “Maybe one day I’ll be able to return to Palestine and to Ramallah with Jesus, in the Kingdom of God.”

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